Investigations of the small-scale thermal behavior of sol-gel thermites.

Warren, M. E. ; Farrow, M. ; Smith- Tappan, A.

Technical Information Center Oak Ridge Tennessee

关键词: Explosives;    Thermite process;    Thermal diffusivity;    Sol-gel process;    Ignition;   

RP-ID  :  DE2009947823

学科分类：工程和技术（综合）

美国|英语

来源: National Technical Reports Library

【 摘 要 】

Sol-gel thermites, formulated from nanoporous oxides and dispersed fuel particles, may provide materials useful for small-scale, intense thermal sources, but understanding the factors affecting performance is critical prior to use. Work was conducted on understanding the synthesis conditions, thermal treatments, and additives that lead to different performance characteristics in iron oxide sol-gel thermites. Additionally, the safety properties of sol-gel thermites were investigated, especially those related to air sensitivity. Sol-gel thermites were synthesized using a variety of different techniques and there appear to be many viable routes to relatively equivalent thermites. These thermites were subjected to several different thermal treatments under argon in a differential scanning calorimeter, and it was shown that a 65 degrees C hold for up to 200 minutes was effective for the removal of residual solvent, thus preventing boiling during the final thermal activation step. Vacuum-drying prior to this heating was shown to be even more effective at removing residual solvent. The addition of aluminum and molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) reduced the total heat release per unit mass upon exposure to air, probably due to a decrease in the amount of reduced iron oxide species in the thermite. For the thermal activation step of heat treatment, three different temperatures were investigated.